Friday, March 11, 2005
All hail Brandon McCarthy
It seems as if McCarthy is finally getting his due praise from the national media.
His decent start (statistically it was awesome, but it wasn't the best he's done, which is really saying something) at one point was the first slide on the slideshow on MLB.com yesterday.
John Sickels (whose Minor League Ball blog is excellent if you have not been there already) rated McCarthy the top White Sox prospect with an excellent (by Sickels standards) A- grade.
Dayn Perry, rated him the 14th best prospect in all of baseball (which is the highest I have seen him ranked), saying:
But we all know that scouts weren't exactly impressed with Buehrle at first, but look how he turned out. McCarthy is not in the same mold as Buehrle, however, in that he is probably going to rack up more K's than Buehrle. I've heard the comment that he's like a tall Zach Greinke, which sounds pretty fair to me in that he gets a lot of K's, pitches smart and has great control.
Hopefully we'll get to see him one more time this spring on television, but I have a feeling that we'll be seeing him a few more times before the season is over.
His being at a very good level puts the White Sox in a good position, in that if Garland isn't adequate, Hernandez isn't healthy or Contreras proves he isn't good enough to start, McCarthy is there and will be a more than reliable replacement. By sheer ability, he'll probably find his way into the rotation before the year's end.
His decent start (statistically it was awesome, but it wasn't the best he's done, which is really saying something) at one point was the first slide on the slideshow on MLB.com yesterday.
John Sickels (whose Minor League Ball blog is excellent if you have not been there already) rated McCarthy the top White Sox prospect with an excellent (by Sickels standards) A- grade.
Dayn Perry, rated him the 14th best prospect in all of baseball (which is the highest I have seen him ranked), saying:
McCarthy led the minors with 202 strikeouts in 2004, and he also posted a sparkling 6.7 strikeout-to-walk ratio across three levels. Not bad for a 17th-rounder. He shows exceptional command of a two-seamer, four-seamer and excellent curve. McCarthy's changeup needs refinement, but he still made good progress with it last season. His mechanics are polished and efficient, and his height (6'7") gives him a good downward angle at hitters. Some scouts aren't wowed by his stuff, but the numbers thus far are tremendously impressive.
But we all know that scouts weren't exactly impressed with Buehrle at first, but look how he turned out. McCarthy is not in the same mold as Buehrle, however, in that he is probably going to rack up more K's than Buehrle. I've heard the comment that he's like a tall Zach Greinke, which sounds pretty fair to me in that he gets a lot of K's, pitches smart and has great control.
Hopefully we'll get to see him one more time this spring on television, but I have a feeling that we'll be seeing him a few more times before the season is over.
His being at a very good level puts the White Sox in a good position, in that if Garland isn't adequate, Hernandez isn't healthy or Contreras proves he isn't good enough to start, McCarthy is there and will be a more than reliable replacement. By sheer ability, he'll probably find his way into the rotation before the year's end.
# posted by Karno : 10:31 PM
